Hi, Tony. Rather than register to comment on the other site, I will comment here. You asked for three current titles of "Christian" novels worthy of being called "art."

Mary DeMuth's "Watching the Tree Limbs" and "Wishing on Dandelions"
Annette Smith's "A Bigger Life"
Alton Gansky's "River Rising"
Lisa Samson's "A Quaker Summer" and "The Living End" and "Club Sandwich"
Dale Cramer's "Summer of Light"

I know that's more than three, but I'm evil that way. :) I don't know whether "Peace Like a River" and "Gilead" fall into your definition of a Christian novel or not, but I consider both amazing.

BTW, Lisa Samson's Quaker Summer just got judged Christianity Today's Novel of the Year.

Tony, it is nice timing that you comment on O'Connor's essays right now, because I have been mulling over her story "A View of the Woods" the past few evenings. I was itching for some good writing and hadn't read anything of hers in awhile, and it simply hit the spot.

Aside from being quite disturbing on the story level itself, A View of the Woods has challenged me to understand the themes it addresses on multiple levels. I find that it is always "uplifting" to read an O'Connor story.

Thanks for the thoughts on her non-fiction (which stand as some of the most important thoughts I've read on art), and for the willingness to call out the modern Christian mass-produced sentiment as potentially being sinful. I look forward to the rest of the essays.